


and i can see what was hidden before

by croissantbleu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Getting Together, M/M, Post-Time Skip, atsumu is dumb and an idiot but he's trying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22590109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/croissantbleu/pseuds/croissantbleu
Summary: Atsumu should say no. He has a reputation to uphold. He still can’t read Hinata like he would want to. He feels some time of way when he thinks about Hinata’s hands in his hair. The balance isn’t weighing on the side it should.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 19
Kudos: 465





	and i can see what was hidden before

There is something about Hinata Shouyou that draws people in, effortlessly, but he seems to be the only one completely oblivious to it. Kenma thinks it’s almost scary how he can see this as just  _ normal _ . Kageyama thinks it’s annoying how he managed to pull even  _ him  _ in his grasp, even if it took some time. Tsukishima thinks it’s freaky as hell how someone that small can have so much gravitational pull - but then again, the smaller stars tend to be the ones with the highest power of attraction. Bokuto has noticed, too, much to Akaashi’s surprise, but they are quite similar in that regard so maybe it isn’t all that unbelievable after all. Atsumu thinks… well, Atsumu isn’t sure what he thinks. 

He’s good at figuring people out, just doesn’t tend to care all that much, but Hinata is so open that anyone would think he’s the easiest to read, and yet, there’s a part of him that Atsumu just can’t seem to be able to see. And that frustrates him to no end, more than it really should. But he isn’t always a very reasonable guy.

Despite what they might say, pulling off their quick hasn’t been easy - Atsumu isn’t Kageyama, they simply don’t do things the same way, and Hinata had obviously changed a whole lot since the last time he saw him - so it took a little bit to sync up. But Hinata always just brushed it off and kept going, and maybe his laugh was slightly intoxicating, but Atsumu finds that he preferred it the smile he shot him after they made it work for the first time. Atsumu also finds that being around Hinata is more interesting than frustrating, in the end.

“Hey Atsumu,” Hinata asks one day after practice, during their stretches. “How does your hair always look so clean? Do you go to the hairdresser often?” 

“Ah, not really, only to get it cut,” he says, not sure why that’s suddenly a topic. “I like bleaching it myself better, actually, it's weirdly kind of relaxing.”

“Really?” Hinata sounds surprised, before he adds “Oh, yeah, you do like habits and routines, don’t you? Like that thing with the number of steps you take before a serve. But doesn't that get tiring, doing it on your own? You never let your roots show so that must be pretty high maintenance. Doesn’t that damage your hair?”

Atsumu groans. “Yeah, especially when it comes to the back, it's a real pain. But I have products to keep it healthy and all so, it’s fine.”

“Oooh, let me help next time!” Hinata grins, like that’s a normal offer to make to his volleyball teammate. 

Atsumu should say no. He has a reputation to uphold. He still can’t read Hinata like he would want to. He feels some time of way when he thinks about Hinata’s hands in his hair. The balance isn’t weighing on the side it should.

“You sure are interested in this stuff, huh?” he asks, deflecting the question because he doesn’t trust himself to be reasonable.

“Oh, uh. Yeah, I guess?” Hinata sits up and brings a hand to the back of his neck with a grimace. “I just noticed your hair always looked really nice and soft even though it’s not your natural colour, and I got curious. Sorry if I was too insistent! I really didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“No, no,” Atsumu pushes himself up as well. He doesn’t know why he feels like he has to rush to reassure him, but he does. This is bad for his image, he thinks. But Hinata thinks his hair looks soft, so maybe his image is already as good as gone. "You weren't pushy, it's fine. And uh, if you do want to help next time then, sure. It would be helpful, actually, you know."

He doesn't know why he said yes but Hinata's face lights up, and he decides he's made the right choice. He thinks maybe he can understand Hinata better if they’re not on the court and if Bokuto isn’t around being loud and obnoxious. He chooses to ignore the fact that this sounds dangerously like an excuse.

"Awesome, thanks! Just text me next time and I'll get there," Hinata promises, before glancing at the clock on the wall and shooting up to his feet. "Oh crap, I'm late, gotta go, sorry! See you!" 

Atsumu waves after him and vaguely thinks Hinata would be very good at manipulating people if he wanted to, being so straightforward and obviously kind, before deciding that really isn't his type of mindset. He meets Sakusa's eyes on the other side of the room, judging and dubitative even from a distance. Atsumu flips him off. Sakusa returns the favour. They’re good.

He texts Hinata a few days later, when his roots are starting to show the tiniest bit and he's beginning to doubt this is a good idea at all - but he said he'd do it, and he's a man of his word. Most of the time. He texts him the address and Hinata says he'll be right there. 

Hinata greets him with a smile when Atsumu opens the door, and says it's a shame they haven't hung out sooner as he walks in. Atsumu doesn't say it's because he was vaguely wary of how enthusiastic he was. He offers him tea instead, that Hinata gladly accepts. Enthusiastic. They chat a little as Atsumu tries to calm the nerves that have surprisingly flared up without him realizing, and if Hinata looks right at home, there is still something about him that piques Atsumu's curiosity. 

He goes to open the window, so Hinata doesn’t have to breathe in the bleach vapours, that Atsumu can’t deny isn’t exactly a pleasant scent, and excuses himself to go change from his hoodie into a more relaxed tee-shirt and prepare the bleach.

“I’ll do the front,” he says when he walks back in and pretends he doesn’t see Hinata glancing at his arms, because his brain might implode if he acknowledges it. “So you can, like, see how I do it, I guess? And then you can do the back if you still want to but, you don’t have to, y’know. You’re welcome to just… hang out.”

“No, no, I’d love to! I’m the one who asked in the first place,” Hinata reminds him, all smiles. 

Atsumu doesn’t know how someone can smile this much and still look so sincere while doing it, and he doesn’t know what is this effect it has on him but that goes into the mental box he has labeled ‘Hinata Shouyou is unreadable’. He thinks everyone he knows would make fun of him if they ever found out about it, except maybe Hinata. Hinata would probably be flattered. Atsumu can’t understand him.

He realizes he’s been looking at his smile for maybe a second longer and wishes the ground would open up and swallow him. Instead, he just nods and looks into the mirror on the table to start applying the bleach. 

He wasn’t kidding when he said it was calming. He really does like routines, repeating moves and gestures he doesn’t even have to think about anymore, almost like a ritual. He glances at Hinata when he’s done, the familiar uncomfortable tingling starting to spread across his scalp, and Hinata gladly takes the brush and slides behind him. He declines the seat Atsumu offers him, arguing that he can’t pass up an occasion to be taller than him for once, and puts on gloves before getting to work on his hair.

Atsumu has the revelation of the century when he feels Hinata’s fingers softly carding through his hair and his brain has to fully shut down and reboot at the touch, and there’s a mental pop-up page that opens with the words “YOU’RE IN LOVE, DUMBASS” displayed in big and bold. He tries his best to keep his face in check while he wrestles with the realization that he’s been a damn idiot this whole time, and almost doesn’t register when Hinata starts talking.

“You know, I used to do my sister’s hair when she was a kid.” Atsumu makes a noise in the back of his throat, that he hopes Hinata will take as a sign of interest rather than aggravation at himself. It’s both, but he doesn’t need to know that. “Mum was always busy, but she said I was more careful anyways. And it was a nice moment to spend with her, y’know, she’s a lot younger than me so we didn’t have that much in common, as kids.”

Atsumu has accepted his title as dumbass of the year and put it past him, and he vaguely wants to melt at how sweet this is. He also briefly wonders what it’s like to have this kind of sibling relationship, but then he realizes he doesn’t want to think about Osamu right now.

“That’s cute,” he says, not really meaning to, but he catches Hinata’s grin in the mirror and he doesn’t regret it as much. 

“Thank you,” Hinata chirps. "There you go, I'm done! You've got to leave it on for half an hour now, right?" 

Atsumu nods. “At most, yeah, but it doesn’t really need that long, 15 minutes usually do the trick. But I don't want to keep you for too long, if you…" 

The end of the sentence dies in his throat when Hinata walks around him and hauls himself up on the table so he's sitting in front of Atsumu. Atsumu decides brown eyes are underrated. 

"You can't kick me out before I see the result," Hinata pouts. 

Atsumu forgets how to breathe. 

"I wasn't kicking you out," he counters once his lungs remember their proper function. 

"I know," Hinata chuckles quietly, and Atsumu wonders if he really does have a secret agenda to murder him after all. "You really do have soft hair, by the way. I was right." 

"Hinata," he says, because he has to say something. 

"Yes?" there's a glint in Hinata's eyes when Atsumu looks up at him again. 

"You're killing me here."

Hinata looks positively delighted at that. Atsumu decides he hates him. 

"It's fine," Hinata says. "I know first aid. I wouldn't let you die on me." 

It’s not fine, Atsumu thinks. His lungs have given up on him again. This is going to be a problem if it keeps up. Hinata starts kicking his legs under the table and his ankle brushes against Atsumu’s knee two, three times before he gets up and mumbles something about needing to rinse his hair. It has not been fifteen minutes, not even close, but he’s steadily losing his mind, so he retreats in the bathroom for a bit, and breathes. 

He doesn’t want to leave Hinata hanging for too long so he quickly rinses out the bleach and washes his hair with purple shampoo to tone down the yellow tones - he leaves the rest of the treatments for later, when there isn’t the guy he’s in love with waiting in the next room, and he doesn’t bother styling it properly again before going back.

“You should wear your hair down more often,” is the first thing Hinata says when he sees him, and Atsumu stops in his tracks.

“You can’t keep saying things like that,” he complains.

“Like what?” Hinata offers him a bright innocent smile, and Atsumu is about 2.5 seconds away from walking out of his own apartment and lying down in the street. 

Hinata jumps down from the desk and walks up to him when it’s obvious he doesn’t have an answer, which is highly uncharacteristic of him.

“You didn’t put your products in, did you?” he asks, reaching up to touch a strand of blonde hair. “You should do it now, before you forget.”

“I wasn’t going to abandon you for too long,” Atsumu replies. “That would have been rude.”

“I can do it for you,” Hinata suggests like it’s nothing. It’s not nothing. Atsumu can’t believe what this man is putting him through. “What do I need to get?” he adds as he starts to move past him.

Atsumu grabs his wrist when his hand falls from his hair, acting more on instinct than following any logical train of thought, and there’s a challenge in Hinata’s eyes when he looks at him, the kind of look he gives him on the court when he wants them to do their quick. He can’t stand him, Atsumu thinks when he tugs him closer, watching Hinata’s eyes flutter close as he leans in to kiss him.

“You’re a nightmare,” he mumbles.

“Sorry,” Hinata says.

Hinata doesn’t sound sorry. He’s the one to pull Atsumu in, this time.

“Let me do your hair,” he offers again, and Atsumu caves in.

He sits down on the same chair as before, and Hinata slides behind it again, rubbing the cream in his hands, his touch gentle as he runs his fingers through his hair, untangling it as he goes, and he talks about his sister again and how it had been years since he’d been able to do someone’s hair like that.

Atsumu catches the expression on his face in the mirror in front of him, a smile playing on his lips and looking perfectly at ease with this whole situation, and he decides he can get rid of that box in the corner of his mind. Hinata Shouyou isn’t that hard to read, after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> It appears I have fallen victim to the atsuhina hype. Can I really be blamed. This idea popped up in my brain at like three in the morning two days ago because I was thinking that I need to bleach and dye my hair again so, I hope you've enjoyed my first attempt at writing Atsumu! There will be more, and it's all uphill from here with like, an actual plot and stuff, promise.  
> Y'all know the drill but comments always provide a strong dose of serotonin that is highly appreciated, and you can also find me on twitter [@transkrpk](https://twitter.com/transkrpk) !


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